I've finally reached my first milestone in the Grinds My Gears catalog. The big ONE-ZERO, Issue 10...wow! Double figures at last. Sadly, the momentous occasion of this issue is spoiled by the topic I've had to choose to write about.
Not too long ago, I wrote a blog entitled "Time to Let It Go". At the time of writing that, none of the recent events in the Madeleine McCann case were in circulation, but aspects of the case were slowly beginning to wear by abrasion my gears. Almost everyone in the entire world is aware of how this case is panning out (except Americans because they believe the only news in the world is their own, and people in Antartica) and now aspects of this case are starting to get to me.
Those of you who are familiar with my GMG blogs know that I often take a humourous approach to these things, so this one might seem a little different because of the serious matter involved.
I started considering to write this when I learned that the McCanns were initially proposing to pay for their legal fees out of the "Find Madeleine" fund they had started. This in its own right is just out and out wrong, and the suggestion of such a thing pisses me off. People donated that money so they could fund efforts to find their daughter, not so they could clear their names - a job which seems to be becoming a very difficult task indeed - and the money was donated at a time when the whole world deemed the McCanns to be a 100% completely innocent element of the case. We all know that things have changed now. Some time after it was revealed that they wouldn't be dipping into the fund to pay for legal costs. Whether this was so they could redeem themselves somewhat or on advice from their lawyers, no one knows.
As most of you know, this fund has been in existence for some time, and the money in the deposit has been sitting there for a long time aswell. Isn't is coincidental that they announce plans to spend £80,000 (out of 1.2million) on a new advertising campaign, days after they tried to use the money for legal fees? What I don't understand is the necessity of putting up these posters. The whole world knows what the poor girl looks like. Posters won't bring her back.
Another thing about this case which annoys me is the extended family. How many times have we seen/heard family members on Sky News attempting to clear Gerry and Kates names by telling us all that the Portuguese Police are incompetent? There are far more clever ways to help make someone look innocent than bitching about the Police. What's worse is that early in the case Gerry was quoted as saying "We (our family) have full faith in the Police", is that the case now? If they're adamant to help clear their names, why not cooperate and give them the laptop and cuddle toy. Also, any innocent man who says: "Find the body and prove we killed her" is no innocent man.
When visiting Sky News.com, I came across an article in relation to the case which I hadn't been aware of. The McCanns want the media to go away! Now excuse me if I'm wrong, but I do remember that same family using every possible media available for the previous 120 days before they were named suspects. And now they want them to leave them alone. You can't just switch the media on and off to suit your needs! How can they expect the media to go away when they do nothing but criticise the Police, and have family members and friends on the TV proclaiming their innoncence? Honestly, they'd be better not saying anything.
To make matters worse, celebrities are now on the "Clear the McCanns" bandwagon. Richard Branson is donating £70,000 to pay their legal fees. What the hell has he got to do with any of this? And he's asking other celebs to join in!!! Why should the McCann case supercede all the other thousands of missing children in the world? The McCanns got themselves to this spot in the first place and they should get themselves out. How can the public be expected to still have sympathy for them when they keep changing their stories and so much potential evidence is now turning the case against them?
The fact that they left 3 kids under the age of 4, alone in an unlocked apartment is dodgy enough. Staff at the restaurant said they didn't check on the kids every 20mins like they said they did. All this stuff about sedatives and sniffer dogs, body fluids and diary entries, it's all turning the tide against the McCanns, and I'm somewhat encouraged by the Sky News Forums that there's a multitude of people who express the same opinion as I do.
We need closure on this issue fast, because this case will never go away otherwise. The public has a right to know what exactly happened that night on May the 3rd after all the stories we've been exposed to. What parents deem it necessary to visit the Pope, or travel to other countries to promote their missing child when the time would be better spent physically searching themselves, knocking on doors, asking people in the area etc. The issue has been raised countless times as to why we've never once seen either of them shed a tear, what with all the exposure we've seen. We all know at this stage that this family can never return to normal life, with or without Madeleine. Depending on what the Portuguese Judge makes of it, a charge may or may not be made, and then we'll never know what part - if any - the parents had to play in their daughter's disappearance.
Am I right in thinking they're Guilty Until Proven Innocent?
-Note, I'm not saying innocent until proven guilty.
~The Damo
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5 comments:
I can't say I agree with your main point, that of "Guilty Until Proven Innocent". You can't just subvert the entire basis of justice like that! Well, okay, you're just blogging about it, you're not an actual practising Judge (not that I know of, anyway) but still...
I see where you're going with critiscing the way they've used the media, but I can't bring myself to denounce them completely. The evidence against them is mostly faulty and that whole "OMG THEY NEVER CRY. THEY = EVIL!!!" is just bullshit. People deal with grief in different ways.
I haven't made up my mind whether I think Kate McCann is guilty or not, but I still feel desperately sorry for her, whatever the verdict turns out to be.
We don't KNOW the evidence is faulty. Let's be realistic here, why would they be named suspects if they didn't have some kindof evidence on them?
The main point isn't Guilty Until Proven Innocent, that's my final opinion. THe main points are Media, Family Members, Celebs, and Helping the Police. Why not give them the damn stuff if theyre so keen to prove their innocence!
There's absolutely ZERO leads on the poor girl and my criticism is highlighting the lack of ACTUAL searching they themselves did, which they should've done instead of visiting the Pope! The possibility that they ARE involved into their daughters disappearance is a REAL possibility until they can prove to the world that they had no part in it.
Hence my justification of the term "Guilty Until Proven Innocent". If you have someone linked to a crime of anysort and you are trying to prove theyre guilty (under the Innocent Til Proven Guilty clause), its often difficult to prove that they did partake in whatever crime it was. However, if you are trying to prove that they are innocent (under the Guilty til Proven Innocent idea) its much easier as one can have an aliby (sp?) for example or any evidence to suggest they had nothing to do with the crime.
In this case, they don't have an aliby (sp? again) because Kate - technically speaking - was the last person to see Madeleine, so unless they can prove that she had nothing to do with it, then she should be considered guilty (or as they are now suspects, and rightly) and they (the parents) should now be trying to prove that they are INDEED innocent, not goade the Police into "Prove we killed her!" No matter what way you look at it, no man ever says that about their daughter.
I for one think that they should be looked at as serious supsects. They left their daughter alone in an apartment in a foreign country while they went for a meal. How many competent parents do you know who would dare do that even in their own country? I'm 100% confident in saying that you know none.
So fast forward to later that night when they return to where they were staying to find madeline gone. They ring the police. In this kind of situation the first thing the police will do is all CCTV footage from the surrounding area. Now you would think that with it being a holiday resort there would be plenty of these cameras so it would be impossible to escape to area without being caught on some of them. Yet no leads were found. It doesn't make sense does it?
But now a story is beginning to emerge which fills in some of the many blanks in what tool place that night. DNA sample have shown high levels of sedatives in splatters of Maddie blood which was found and we can now begin to together a picture of what happened - The McCanns want to go out but don't want to bring Maddie. They decide to give her sleeping tablets. They accidentally overdose her. She dies. They panic. They hide the body - It makes a lot more sense than a child just disappearing.
At the moment, with the facts that we have I can see only two possibilities - either the McCanns mistakenly killed her with an overdose of sleeping tablets - or somebody else took her and it's the perfect crime. Which do you think is more likely?
I don't think there is any justification for the term "Guilty Until Proven Innocent". We do apparently live in a fair and just society.
As for the whole case I've barely followed it. It turned into a media circus long ago.
May seem heartless but part of me doesn't like the fact that this one little girl gets all the attention when countless others go missing and not a whisper is heard of them in the media. Don't get me wrong people do need to know and it was right to get her face out there but to me it just highlights how little attention other people get.
I agree it's wrong they left their children alone but we and the media can't judge these people as innocent or guilty as we don't know all the facts no matter how much some people may think they know.
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